GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- North Dakota State got a season-high 30 points from Paul Miller and opened the game on an 11-0 run to knock off North Dakota 88-79 Saturday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

It was the third-straight win for the Bison (4-5) on UND's home court (4-5) as the visitors snapped a three-game losing streak and gave the Fighting Hawks back-to-back losses for the first time this season.

Sophomore Marlon Stewart led UND with 23 points and junior Geno Crandall added 20 in the loss.

Sophomore Kienan Walter chipped in with a career-high 11 points off the bench, helping ease the absence of starter Cortez Seales (12.3 ppg), who missed the game to attend to a personal matter back home in Iowa.

"We got out of the gates slow, but I thought we did a good job of clawing back," UND head coach Brian Jones said. "But, it's about finishing with this group and once we'd get it back to a couple of possessions or a one-possession game, we continue to have guys stray from what we do and what brought us back into the game.

"That's been a common theme with this group. They have to be patient and understand to be disciplined on defense." 

UND tried multiple times throughout the game, but could never fully recover from that game-opening 11-0 run. Miller and company got off to a fast start, going 9-for-11 from the floor to start and build a 23-13 advantage through the opening eight minutes of the game.

Tyson Ward knocked down a pair of treys in that opening stretch and finished with 15 points. He was the only Bison starter to miss more than one 3-pointer (3-for-6) as that unit went 11-for-15 from deep. A.J. Jacobson hit all three of his attempts and added 12 points for the visitors.

The Bison would push that lead to as much as 15 before the UND offense roared back late in the opening half.

A 16-2 run by the home team trimmed its deficit to 34-33 following an acrobatic layup by Crandall at the 3:06 mark.

Miller would squelch that spurt with a 3-pointer, however, and lead his team to a 10-4 half-closing run that made it a 44-37 contest at the break.

UND stayed in the game in the first half thanks to a 15-for-15 effort from the charity stripe and the Fighting Hawks would make 19-straight before finally missing one midway through the second half.

It was a similar story in the last 20 minutes as the Bison would build a double-digit lead again before UND staged a rally. Stewart closed the gap to just two at 68-66 after a pair of free throws at the 7:02 mark.

He finished with a career-best 13 makes from the charity stripe on 15 attempts, but the home team went 10-for-15 after the perfect start.

UND could never get over the hump those as Cameron Hunter hit a contested 3-pointer with just over four minutes to play that made it a 7-point lead for the Bison. Hunter had seven of his nine points down the stretch to help seal the win.

Crandall turned one of his career-high equaling five steals into a quick layup that pulled UND within six, but that would be as close as the Fighting Hawks could come in the closing two minutes.

Jacobson and Hunter each had a team-high six rebounds as NDSU finished with a 33-25 edge on the glass and finished shooting a season-best 59.6 percent from the field. UND ended up with a 44.2 percent field-goal clip, but made only four 3-pointers compared to 13 by NDSU.

UND will play another Summit League foe next when they take on South Dakota State in Brookings on Tuesday.

-- UND --